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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25480531">A Healing Sunrise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsallonfire/pseuds/itsallonfire'>itsallonfire</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftermath of Violence, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, One Shot, Post-Season/Series 04, Self-Harm, Trauma, i suppose kya will have to do, like really bad, lin needs a therapist, lin's adventures in emotional vulnerability</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:47:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,837</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25480531</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsallonfire/pseuds/itsallonfire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Weeks have passed since Team Avatar took down Kuvira and her army. The city is recovering -- buildings are being reconstructed, businesses are reopening, families are readjusting to their homes again. Nothing is the same as it used to be. And to Republic City's Chief of Police, life is a daily struggle. When an old friend and lover shows up, Lin is forced to take on the trauma left by the past months in order to heal. In the process, she may have made a long-overdue reconnection.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lin Beifong/Kya II</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>202</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Healing Sunrise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Rated M for mentions of self-harm and alcohol abuse -- if either of those things will trigger you, please don't read!</p>
<p>(I know this is a pretty long one-shot. I just knew this shouldn't be divided up into chapters.)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The station was silent at night. Empty, with only a night-shifter or two asleep at their desks somewhere downstairs. With the fourth floor void of movement, Lin liked to wander the offices and desks surrounding hers. Listening to the click of her shoes on the floors kept her mind off the natural creaking of the walls.</p>
<p>She couldn’t help but miss the teaming chaos of invasion -- officers and securities racing through halls and stairwells, rushing to deliver her commands and carry out orders. She missed the volume. The disorder.</p>
<p>Things were dead around the station with the Great Uniter out of the way. The city was tired. Even the triads had slunk away into their hideouts to rest and process the changes that had occurred. Emergency vehicles sat dusty in the warehouse garage. Metalbenders had replaced their cable tech after the battle and hadn’t used them since. Relieving, to some. To Lin, it was all just blank noise.</p>
<p>She sat at an empty officer’s desk, feet kicked up on the steel surface. She had poured a glass of gin and swirled it around. Her home and office had become one in the same -- some nights she awoke to the phantoms of shouts and explosions and expected to see a swarm of metal cables and bloody armor. An officer’s terrified face. A charred, dismembered hand stuck to the wall.</p>
<p>Voices came up the hallway while she was thinking. She downed her drink and crossed her arms before Mako appeared in the doorway. An entourage of Air Temple Island friends stood behind him. Kya leaned against the wall casually.</p>
<p>“Chief, we’re gonna go out to get some dinner.” Mako pointed his thumb back over his shoulder. “You wanna come?”</p>
<p>Lin looked up at the clock above him. How was it already seven?</p>
<p>“If you do, take off the uniform for once,” said Asami, laughing to herself. She had her arm draped around Korra’s waist. “It’s just us, no criminals to catch.” </p>
<p>“Yeah, you’ve been wearing that thing for a month straight.” Bolin smiled wide. “You don’t need to be a cop all the time. Come relax for a while.”</p>
<p>Lin clenched her jaw. Something tingled uncomfortably in her throat. “I’m not going out without my uniform. All of you are welcome to go.”</p>
<p>“Come on,” insisted Korra. “Let the armor down for a night, huh? We never get to hang out with you anymore.”</p>
<p>“I’m not a teenager. I don’t ‘hang out,’ I do work. I keep the city safe.” She kept herself from looking directly at any of them. “You go have your fun.”</p>
<p>“Chief, there’s nothing to keep the city safe from,” said Mako, furrowing his brow. “When was the last time you actually needed to sign an arrest report?”</p>
<p>Kya stood up straight and sighed. She touched Mako’s shoulder. “You guys go ahead. Lin and I have some catching-up to do, anyway.”</p>
<p>The rest of the group murmured some good-byes and descended the empty hall. Bolin’s voice echoed against the walls as he shouted something about noodles. Kya stood near the door, arms crossed loosely. She had her eyes on Lin gently, despite the defensive posture.</p>
<p>“And what is it you want?” Lin muttered. “You never seem to pass up an opportunity to go get wasted with the kids.”</p>
<p>Kya chuckled. “I do when I see that a friend of mine clearly has something on her mind.”</p>
<p>Lin smirked and said, “Your powers of perception are frightening, Kya.”</p>
<p>Kya dragged a chair across the floor and set it beside the desk. “Can I sit with you? I’d love to talk to you for a minute. It’s been months since we’ve really had the chance to chat.”</p>
<p>“Knock yourself out.” As soon as Kya settled in the chair, Lin was up to pour another glass at the back table. “Want a drink?”</p>
<p>Kya raised her palm. “No, that’s alright.” Once Lin sat again, Kya said, “You know, Mako says you’ve been staying here late almost every night.”</p>
<p>“How observant of him. He’s really turning out to be a fine detective, isn’t he?”</p>
<p>Kya sighed again, hands between her knees like a concerned mother. “He sure is.” After some moments of silence, she leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and said, “Lin, is everything alright with you?”</p>
<p>Lin narrowed her eyes. “I’m fine. And you’re wasting your time by being here.” She sipped her drink and relished the numbness on the surface of her skin as she crossed her legs. </p>
<p>“I hate to make you uncomfortable. I do. But it takes no detective to see that you haven’t been yourself.”</p>
<p>“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>“You’re distant. More distant than usual. The city is as low on crime as ever, and yet you spend all of your time here. And when you’re home you never answer the phone when I call.”</p>
<p>Lin remembered the calls. The faraway ringing in the other room while she sat in the corner of her bed in the morning, forehead aching. Stains in her sheets. Stomach tight. Her hand clasped her upper arm involuntarily as she thought about it.</p>
<p>“You would tell me if there was anything going on, wouldn’t you?”</p>
<p>Lin didn’t move.</p>
<p>“If someone was hurting you?”</p>
<p>Lin shrugged. “Great question.” she stood to fill her glass again. Halfway across the room, a gentle hand landed on her shoulder. She stiffened.</p>
<p>Kya slipped the glass out of her hand and set it on the table. “You’ve probably had enough of that.” She held Lin’s wrist and might her eyes kindly -- soothing opal blue meeting gleaming serpentine. “Come back to the island with me. I’ve missed you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--------------------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kya led Lin through the dark, wood-paneled halls towards her room by the hand. Lin couldn’t help but let the situation throw her back to years ago, sneaking away from dinner parties, Tenzin’s wedding, police events, birthdays, into a secluded back room to clumsily feel each other up like only they could. Lin rolled her eyes at the memory. </p>
<p>Kya struck matches and illuminated the darkness with little metal lanterns on the windowsills. Lin suddenly felt suffocated in her uniform. She sat on the edge of the bed and Kya moved to sit against the wall in the corner of the mattress.</p>
<p>“What did you want to bring me here for?” Lin asked. “Surely you remember that I’m not thirty anymore.”</p>
<p>Kya laughed. “Goodness, I just want to talk to you. Please, just let me ask how you’re feeling.”</p>
<p>“I’m fucking fine, Kya. You worry so much.”</p>
<p>“I am a healer, Lin. I know a damaged heart when I see one.”</p>
<p>Lin’s eyes drifted away. “Nothing about me is damaged, besides my face. I shouldn’t have come here with you.”</p>
<p>“Your face is lovely.” Kya’s hand grabbed Lin’s before she could get up. “But you need some kind of healing. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but there’s something in you that’s just fucking begging for help. Let me help you.”</p>
<p>Lin bit down on her tongue. “What do you care? Wouldn’t you rather be out with the kids than here, trying to crack open a rock?”</p>
<p>“Because I happen to care very strongly for this particular rock,” said Kya. “Just start with taking off that damn uniform for me, okay?” She got up and knelt in front of a jug of water in the corner, drifting her hand in circles overtop of it. When Lin didn’t move, Kya glanced at her and said, “I assume you’d rather me not take it off for you?”</p>
<p>Lin almost laughed. “Wouldn’t that be a throwback.” She removed the heavy sheets of metal and felt her shoulders tense without their weight. She was cold without them. Something wasn’t right about her body without the coverings -- she gasped at the shock of her bare skin and covered her arms and shoulders with her jacket. Rubbing her upper arm, she sighed and tried to sooth the turning in her stomach.</p>
<p>“Come sit,” said Kya, patting the floor in front of her. Lin’s hands shook while she took a seat, crossing her legs. She looped her fingers together.</p>
<p>Kya looked up at her and opened her mouth to speak, but blinked in shock for a second. Lin caught her eyes drifting over her collarbones and thighs. Something was different. </p>
<p>“What do you want me to do?” asked Lin, eyes unfocused on the floor.</p>
<p>“Just sit still for me,” said Kya. She cleared her throat and smiled. “I’ll just work on your head for now, try to ease any stress up there.”</p>
<p>“Fine.”</p>
<p>Cool tendrils of water floated to each of her temples and swirled in gentle circles. Lin’s jaw trembled but she shut her eyes anyway. Behind her eyelids were flashes of light -- the wall of a building on fire, an explosion coming for her chest, a slash of metal screaming across her skin. Her eyes flew open again and she accidentally met Kya’s in her panic. </p>
<p>“Take a breath,” said Kya calmly. “You’re perfectly safe.”</p>
<p>Lin nodded and breathed deeply, hesitantly letting her eyes close again. The fire that burned across the city after Kuvira’s attack was clear -- finely detailed tongues of flame dancing in front of her face. She felt the heat of burning rock race past her cheek while a cliffside collapsed behind her. Her arm burned. Stung. Ran with shards of bright red. Her chest trembled and her head was suddenly in her hands, warm tears soaking the neckline of her shirt. She thought she might throw up as the room came spinning into focus around her.</p>
<p>“Fuck,” she whispered. “Fuck, that’s a lot.”</p>
<p>“You’re okay.” Kya’s hands were on Lin’s shoulders. “I’m here. You’re okay.” She spoke softly and rubbed her fingers down Lin’s back. </p>
<p>Lin grabbed Kya’s hand tightly. “You didn’t tell me it would be so much.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t think it would be. You told me you were fine. I just did what I thought would help.”</p>
<p>Lin smirked through the wetness on her face. “Point taken.”</p>
<p>“You’re carrying a lot of pain,” said Kya. “I can see that clearly. There’s a lot you haven’t told me about.”</p>
<p>“It’s not anything anyone needs to know.”</p>
<p>Kya sat back on her heels. She looked over at the wall and shut her eyes. “I made a promise to you once, Lin,” she whispered. “Do you remember? Almost twenty-five years ago, now. Before we went our separate ways.”</p>
<p>Lin nodded. “You told me you loved me. I remember.”</p>
<p>“I told you I love you and that nothing will change that. I told you I’d always be here to help you when you needed me.”</p>
<p>The unease in Lin’s stomach settled and she realized she was still holding Kya’s hand. She squeezed it tighter. “Well, I’d love to hear your application of that concept to the current situation.”</p>
<p>“You’ve got a lot of scars, Lin. Those inside, and outside. Those from fighting the enemy. And the two on your face. You carry them as if they make you who you are.”</p>
<p>Lin shook her head and felt as though she might cry again. “More than two,” she said.</p>
<p>Kya tilted her head. “I don’t know what you mean.” She ran her thumb over Lin’s knuckles.</p>
<p>“There are so many more than two.” Lin leaned forward and held Kya’s hand to her forehead. “And it’s terrible. I’m a fucking sorry excuse for a police chief. I can’t even handle myself.”</p>
<p>With a deep breath, Kya shifted herself forward and embraced Lin firmly, waiting a few seconds to whisper, “Can you let me see?”</p>
<p>“You don’t want to see. Trust me.”</p>
<p>“I want to help you.” </p>
<p>Lin let herself appreciate the sweet smell of Kya’s skin and bathed in it for a moment before retracting. Slowly, she slipped off her jacket and lowered her head to avoid the horribly sad look from the other woman. She felt it, like a slap across the face when Kya murmured, “Oh, honey.”</p>
<p>Kya reached out a hand as if to touch Lin’s arm, but didn’t. Lin covered the skin with her hand and turned her shoulder away. “It’s not for you to worry about. I shouldn’t have shown you. It’s disgusting.” She grabbed her jacket off the floor and started to stand, before Kya grabbed her wrist.</p>
<p>“There’s nothing disgusting about it, Lin. It’s human.” She guided Lin down to sit again, facing her. “Something hurt you badly enough to make you want to hurt yourself. It happens. It can happen to anyone.”</p>
<p>“I’m too old for shit like this.” Lin found her face in her hands again, shame spinning in her chest. “I’m not a child.”</p>
<p>Kya brushed strands of tear-soaked hair out of Lin’s face. “You’re not a child. You’re a very powerful woman dealing with something just as strong as you. It’s a battle like any other, with equally-matched opponents.”</p>
<p>Lin sighed, trying to convince herself of that truth. Hands still shaking, she wiped her tears with her fingers and asked Kya, “What do you want with me now, then? Certainly there’s a reason you had me bare my soul to you.”</p>
<p>“I’d like to try and heal what I can. There might be permanent scarring, but I can do something for it, if you let me.”</p>
<p>Lin bit her lip and nodded. “Sure.”</p>
<p>Kya set a soothing circle of water onto Lin’s upper arm, concealing the cross-hatch of angry red lines with cool blue. “Let me know if anything hurts,” she said quietly. “I can stop whenever you want me to.”</p>
<p>Lin sat up and inhaled deeply. She focused on Kya’s calming presence in front of her, but soon a panicked breath rattled her chest and she saw the blood scattered around her bedsheets again. Dark brown stains on her metal wristplate. She felt the clench in her fist as she bent it into a blade and she shut her eyes like she did as she blindly slashed it across her skin. Her throat was tight. The buzz of alcohol stung her cheeks. She remembered the relief. And the pain in her flesh. The pain. The tension.</p>
<p>She opened her eyes and shook her head. “It hurts,” she said breathlessly. “It hurts.” Her hand flew up to her arm again as Kya removed the water. </p>
<p>“Okay.” Kya put her hands in her lap. “That’s plenty for tonight then, honey. You did so well.”</p>
<p>Lin forced her breath back into her body and rubbed the sweat out of her eyes. Her arm didn’t hurt -- it was warm, uncomfortably so, but she released the skin and her hand stopped shaking. </p>
<p>“You’re gonna be okay, Lin,” said Kya. “You’ve seen some of the worst things a person can see. You’ve lost control of your surroundings. Things don’t seem normal to you anymore. You’re trying to feel real.”</p>
<p>“I hardly made a difference in that final battle and I’ve still let it break me,” said Lin quietly. “I should have been smarter. I shouldn’t have let all those feelings do that to me.”</p>
<p>“Honey, you’ve experienced more trauma in the last year than most people will experience in their lives. You have every right to break down. The world has hurt you, over and over and over. What you’re doing is a survival response. You’re trying to feel something.”</p>
<p>Lin lowered her face into her hands and shook her head. “What did you see?”</p>
<p>“Huh?”</p>
<p>“While you were trying to heal me just now, Kya. What did you see?”</p>
<p>Kya sighed and leaned back on her hands. Her eyes wandered over to the bowl of water. “I saw a lot of alcohol. Not nearly enough food.” She returned her gaze to the slashes in Lin’s arm. “And I saw that you’ve wanted pain like that more than once.”</p>
<p>Lin muttered, “You certainly are your mother’s daughter.” Her voice was broken. Kya’s target reading sent her back to the night before, as she sat at her table with a class of whiskey and a sinking numbness in her stomach. She hadn’t felt a single thing all day, besides some annoyance and frustration. She could hardly remember the last time she had laughed -- or even smiled. It took too much energy. </p>
<p>She remembered that after what felt like hours of debating whether or not to bend out her armor blade again and tear her hand apart, she distracted herself with the whiskey bottle on the counter. She had woken up that morning with her head pounding and a half-empty bottle of liquor on the nightstand.</p>
<p>Out of her hazy reverie, Lin realized she had begun to cry. She closed her eyes and turned away fast, ashamed that Kya had seen so much of her weakness. She shuddered at her tears and wiped her eyes and nose on the back of her hand.</p>
<p>Kya was already beside her, arms around Lin’s trembling body firmly. </p>
<p>Kya’s embrace was warm and lovely -- something in Lin wouldn’t let herself rip her body away. She softened and draped her arms across Kya’s back. She sighed and set her face into Kya’s neck.</p>
<p>“It’s good to see you cry, Lin,” whispered Kya. “It’s so scary when you never show anything.”</p>
<p>Lin only squeezed Kya tighter, finding a decades-old comfort in her presence, which smelled like coffee and brown sugar. Memories of the older woman being there for her -- when she was an angry teenager, when she perilously struggled with her career, when Tenzin left her heartbroken. </p>
<p>Still, Kya’s arms hadn’t been a source of solace for years.</p>
<p>They’d had the occasional quick fuck in the attic of the Air Temple, gotten drunk at various events and messily sucked on each other’s tongues in an elevator somewhere. But Kya never seemed one for commitment, and neither was Lin -- but while Kya held her together on the cold floor, Lin couldn’t help but feel the familiar tug of desire in her chest.</p>
<p>Before Lin could think of something embarrassingly sappy to say, Kya murmured, “I should have been there for you, honey. I’m sorry I didn’t see how much you needed me.”</p>
<p>“How the hell could you have known?” Lin released Kya’s body and her heart plunged when she saw the watery redness of Kya’s eyes.</p>
<p>“At the wedding, however long ago that was,” said Kya. “You stood by the wall drinking gin and tonics for three hours. I watched you just -- I watched you look like you were going to cry all night. I didn’t even try to talk to you.”</p>
<p>Lin flipped her hand up in the air. “Don’t be ridiculous, Kya. I’ve never learned to be human with anyone.”</p>
<p>Kya smiled at her and wiped a lingering tear from Lin’s face with her thumb. “I disagree. I think you’ve shown your humanity in every right way.”</p>
<p>Lin gave her a quizzical look.</p>
<p>“When you gave up your bending to save Tenzin and his kids?” Kya leaned in closer. Lin could see every pulse of life in her eyes, cerulean as ever. “When you reconciled with your sister? And helped save your entire family? What about every time you’ve risked your life to help the people of Republic City? When you came to save me and the airbenders in that cave?” She tucked Lin’s hair behind her ear. “I haven’t forgotten how you sat with me in the healing hut for days while I recovered.”</p>
<p>“Oh, well--” Lin shook her head and felt her cheeks go warm. “I didn’t think you knew about that.”</p>
<p>“As it turned out, my mother isn’t very good at keeping secrets.” </p>
<p>Finally smiling, Lin said, “Thank you, Kya. I’m lucky you came by the station tonight. I’m not quite sure what my evening would have looked like otherwise.”</p>
<p>Kya swallowed hard, no doubt shoving down some sympathetic sadness. She hugged Lin tight again and mindlessly kissed her cheek, pressing love into the two old parallel scars in her skin.</p>
<p>“Stay here with me tonight,” she said. “I’ve been a bit lonely here lately. And it’ll be so much warmer to have someone else with me.”</p>
<p>Lin saw the true reason Kya wanted her to stay, and understood -- she could easily see herself slipping out of control back at home and only making herself feel worse. She agreed to the offer and quickly found herself curled around Kya’s soft form as the page of an old book was read to her. She considered the peculiarity of the situation, knowing that a version of herself a week before would have scoffed at the idea. </p>
<p>But Kya’s body was stable and gentle, a welcome contrast to the trembling insecurity of her own bed at home. Kya’s arm looped around Lin’s waist and her chest was the perfect pillow, heartbeat as soothing as her voice. When Kya set the book on the bedside table and blew out the flame in the one remaining lantern, the only source of light was the waning moon shining through the window.  </p>
<p>Feeling herself drifting off, Lin tightened her arm around Kya and whispered, “I missed this.”</p>
<p>Kya smiled. “I did, too.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--------------------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The sun came in the bedroom window early in the morning, carving out shadows on the door. Lin’s eyes flickered open and she felt a weight on her stomach. Glancing down, she found Kya’s head resting just above her pelvis, slender arms loosely wrapped around her. Silver hair was draped over Lin’s chest. Lin remembered the moment in the night when Kya had assumed such a position and grinned. </p>
<p>Her eyes drifted to her arm. The scars in her skin looked a bit paler than they had a few hours ago, thanks to Kya’s impeccable healing technique. She watched the door for a while and wondered if she needed to hit the road -- surely the island would start waking up soon. She didn’t need to be into work until nine, but she couldn’t imagine anything more uncomfortable than running into Tenzin after spending the night with his sister. </p>
<p>Lin ran her fingers thoughtfully along Kya’s cheek, finding delightful memories in the feeling of her soft skin. Kya tightened her arms around Lin, sighing. </p>
<p>“Good morning,” said Lin quietly.</p>
<p>Kya made a noise of protest. “Not yet,” she murmured. “Back to sleep.” She buried her face in Lin’s torso.</p>
<p>Lin spent a few minutes watching Kya’s chest rise and fall, remembering how she would listen to her labored breathing while sitting at Kya’s bedside after she was injured after the battle at the air temple. Lin recalled the older woman rushing to her in the hospital after Su had sliced her face open years ago. When Kya secretly filled out case files and police reports after Tenzin left Lin depressed in her bed for weeks.</p>
<p>Blinking away more tears, Lin rubbed Kya’s shoulder and closed her eyes again, giving in to her lingering exhaustion. She’d come up with some flimsy excuse for the acolytes when it came time to leave the island in a few hours.</p>
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